Academy Plans Free Program Inner-city Pupils To Benefit In Summer

October 05, 1992|by SUSAN SNYDER, The Morning Call

Moravian Academy in Bethlehem will start a tuition-free program for middle school students next summer based on a national model designed to help primarily inner-city children succeed in the classroom despite the hardships they face.

Students from select public schools in Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton will be eligible for the six-week program at Moravian, the area's largest private school.

Courses in the program, called Lehigh Valley Summerbridge, will be taught by high school and college students from the Lehigh Valley area and beyond -- many of whom are interested in teaching careers.

It's kids teaching kids, and Moravian officials say they hope youngsters will discover from their slightly older mentors that learning is cool.

Moravian, which is running the program on donations from businesses and individuals, will provide students with transportation, meals and lessons on topics such as local government, writing, history and job hunting.

Program Director Denise M. Crews said, "They just have to come with the willingness to learn."

And a penchant for hard work. The school will run from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and students can count on a couple of hours of homework a night, Crews said.

The program is based on a national project that started in San Francisco in 1978 and has spread to 14 other areas, such as Miami, Louisville and Cincinnati.

Moravian's program, an unusual pairing of private school resources and staff with public school children and educators, will be Pennsylvania's first Summerbridge.

"I was looking for a way to help Moravian Academy contribute in the way of educating all children in the Lehigh Valley and to serve some children that we otherwise would not be able to serve," said Peter Sipple, headmaster of the 630-pupil private school.

Summerbridge will take place at the academy's upper school campus, nestled in a country setting along Green Pond Road near Northampton Community College.

"We had the right combination of a beautiful campus that is underutilized in the summer," Sipple said, "and we're located in a part of the country where there are other reasons why we can build bridges between a private school and our public schools."

He alluded to Lehigh Valley 2000: A Business Education Partnership, which last year released a report that encouraged greater collaboration among all area schools. Sipple is a member of the partnership.

Crews and others involved with Summerbridge will monitor the students' progress throughout the following school year, and they will be invited back for a second summer.

"The host school keeps in close touch with these children throughout the school year," Sipple said, "so that they feel a part of that school community."

Moravian officials said Easton and Bethlehem school superintendents have endorsed the program, and new Allentown Superintendent Diane Scott, who starts today, will be contacted. Lehigh University officials also have expressed interest, Sipple said.

The program will target three schools: Easton Middle School, Broughal Middle School in Bethlehem and Harrison-Morton Middle School in Allentown.

Crews will visit the schools and work with faculty and staff to encourage students to apply for Summerbridge. Forty students will be selected for the first year.

The school will aim to include a mix of Hispanic, black, white and other races, diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and A-students as well as those struggling academically, Moravian officials said.

Sipple said they will be the kind of students who make teachers say, "Here's a child that if I just had a little extra time to help, I know I could make a difference."

"We're going to give that child the time to make the difference," Sipple said.

Class sizes will be a quarter to one-sixth the size of the usual public school class. In the morning, instructors will give students the core academic subjects such as math, science and writing. Electives to be determined by the instructors will be given in the afternoon.

Crews, a 1992 University of Virginia graduate, will run the program with guidance from teachers at Moravian and the feeder schools. She was hired by Moravian to head Summerbridge and went through two months of training at Summerbridge programs.

Sipple said he first learned of the program 18 months ago at a national conference for independent schools, where students and teachers from the Summerbridge program in San Francisco spoke.

"I was bowled over by the combination of ardent enthusiasm and articulate -- I would say brilliance -- on the part of these young people," Sipple said. "I left that meeting convinced that this is what I wanted to bring to this school."

The board of trustees approved the project and the next summer, school officials were able to secure the $50,000 they needed to run the program, Sipple said.